New Beadie, A few Q's

chong_python · 09-06-04, 12:36 PM

Hey guys, im new to the forum.
I recentily bouhgt a bearded dragon. ( he was purchased yesterday). He's not a Hactling nor an adult, About 10-12" head to tail. For all you beardie owners, how many crickets did your dargon have when they were around that size. Mine seems to only eat one or 2 and leaves the other 3-4 running around his cage. Is this ok? Also is there anything eles he could be eating, (ie. Mealworms)
My last question is, I know that beardies are sposed to have a specail lighting system. Is it ok If a beardie goes for a day and a half with out any of the UBV light. I do have the heat lgihts tho. The pet store wheere i bouhgt him never had any 23" light fixtured to fit my canopy, but they assured me they would be in on tuesday ( tommorw) ..... Is that ok?

Joses Hut · 09-07-04, 05:48 AM

It should be ok to go without the UV for one day. As far as food, silkworms are a great staple and superworms can be given occasionally as a treat. Mealworms are difficult for Dragons to digest due to the amount of chitin in their exo-skeleton, so these are not recommended. Be sure to have greens available to your Dragon at all times, these should include collard greens, dandilion greens, mustard greens.

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concept3 · 09-08-04, 12:23 PM

Im no expert or anything but when my beardies were 12 inches long they would eat 15-20 large crickets at once and still want more? It seems like yours have a strangely small appetite? What is your basking tempature like?

beanersmysav · 09-08-04, 12:37 PM

There may be a slight eating problem there, possibly stress, dont know for sure though. However my Beardie since 9 inches like to eat atleast a dozen crickets at a rip, more sometimes if i let him but i prefer him to chow down on his greens more than his crickets, which thankfully he does. Make sure the basking (surface) temps are around 100 atleast. Also on the UVB bulbs you can successfully keep dragons both ways I keep a UVB light on my female but my male has nothing more than a heat light and a floro for added cage light but i do suppliment with Calcium that has D3 in it and he is siginificantly bigger and only slightly older.

chong_python · 09-08-04, 01:44 PM

Thanx guys for the feed back. It must have been stress, i was only curious, this question was based on the day that I got him. Its been a couple days and he has bit more of an appatite. As far as greens go, Im not sure if he's eating them, but when i put them in, within a couple hours they are EVERYWHERE through the tank, so hopefully he ate some in the process. Dandelion greens? You mean the yellow flowers outside?. And mustartd greens? Havent heard of them. Is Carrott top greens ok, or Selery(sp)greens?
Thanx alot for all your help

concept3 · 09-08-04, 02:28 PM

At younger ages most beardies arent very intrested in their greens. Just make sure he always has them available in case he decides he wants them. Yes dandilions are the yellow flowers outside, they will eat the flower or the green. all those you listed are fine, they also love bok choy, broccoli, and green pepper. If you decide to feed yours dandilions you have to be 100 percent sure they werent sprayed with chemicals of any kind or on a yard that has recently bean fertilized,.

ICULIZARD · 09-08-04, 06:47 PM

You can also buy Dandelion greens at the grocery store. They come in a bunch, without the yellow flower.....just the greens.

ICULIZARD